Flights Of Fantasy
by miss emtoo
Summary: Prequel to "Flightless." The whole story behind why our beloved Puffs don't fly in their teenage years. How will they cope with the trauma of death?
1. Homework

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Author's Note: This is a prequel to "Flightless." It would probably be best to read "Flightless" before reading this story... It might still make sense to read this, but it gives away several major plot twists to "Flightless." 

I do not own the characters or places of the Powerpuff Girls. Cartoon Network and Craig McCracken are lucky enough to do that! I just own the idea of this story... I do not mean to infringe any copyright laws in the making of this fanfic.

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"You're always such a baby! Fine! I'll go get your stupid Octi." I hear the shouts from downstairs and sigh in disbelief. My sisters are so immature. I pause, and look up from my mathematics workbook. Ms. Keane, my kindergarten teacher, gave me a special, more difficult one than the other kids. She always gives me special homework assignments.

I listen and find that my sisters have calmed down, and started playing some silly video game. I look back down to my workbook and think about the next problem. I quickly scribble down a twelve. I finish the last two problems that I'm working on, and then I slowly stand up from my desk chair. I walk into the adjoining bathroom, and smile at myself in the mirror.

I share my room with my two sisters, so it's very hard to hide my diary. I walk back into the bedroom, and out into the hallway. There's a plant in the hallway, resting on a little table. One day, a few months ago, I found out that the table has a drawer in it, that locks. No one knows that little secret. I walk over to the desk, and pull my necklace out of my dress. It has the key to the drawer on it.

I take my diary out of the drawer and walk back to my bedroom. I sit at the desk, and pick out a sparkly, pink pen. 

__

September 30, 2002

Dear Diary,

Today at school, we learned about the fire department. A fireman came to our school, and told us about fire safety. He said that it is really hot at this time of year, and to be careful of fires. Bubbles thought he was cute, I just thought he was smart, and Buttercup thought he was cool. Tomorrow we're going to learn about police officers. I already know all about the justice system though, because I'm a superhero. Maybe Ms. Keane will call on me tomorrow to answer a question. It was really hot outside today. Professor said that tomorrow would be hotter. Bubbles and Buttercup were fighting today. I don't know what happened, but I think Buttercup took Octi and hid him somewhere. I don't like it when they fight, they should be more mature, like me. I am going to work on some crime fighting strategies. As the leader, I have to be prepared for anything. I have to go take care of my sisters right now, and make sure they are being friendly. Thank you for listening.

Blossom

"Blossom! Please come downstairs." The Professor is calling me from downstairs. I rush into the hallway, and replace my diary in it's secret place, and then I fly down into my kitchen.

"Yes, Professor? Is it dinnertime? Is there anything I can do to help?" I ask him as I begin to set the table.

"Well, yes, it is dinnertime, and thank you for setting the table. When you're done setting the table, will you bring your sisters in? I called them once already, but they're playing that game again." The Professor sighs as he speaks. It sounds like he had a long day in the lab.

I finish setting the table, and walk into our living room, and tell Bubbles and Buttercup that it's dinnertime. They ignore me. I walk over and stand in front of the TV. They lean to the left so they can see around me. Finally, I lean over and turn off the game system.

"Hey! Whadja do that for?" Buttercup yells at me.

"I said it was dinnertime. How can we be strong superheroes, if we're grounded? It sounds like Professor has had a hard day, so let's try to be decent to each other for a few hours, alright girls?" I always have to take care of my sisters.

"Alright." Bubbles and Buttercup both say, pouting. We all fly into the dining room and take our seats. We each have our individual color place settings. I have pink plates, bowls, and glasses. Bubbles has light blue, and Buttercup has light green.

After Professor sits next to Bubbles, he says, "Girls, I have something very important to tell you about." 


	2. The News

The Professor hardly ever has important things to tell us. I really hope that everything's all right. I listen intently, as he begins to tell us, "Girls, I know we're all having fun after school with playing games and things, but we're going to start something new. You're all going to be going to different places after school, to do something you love."

"But, what does that mean? Do we have to do homework and stuff?" Buttercup doesn't seem too happy about this new information. She doesn't even know what it all means.

"Well, girls, calm down a minute. Let me explain a little better." He takes in a deep breath, before continuing, "I want you three to experience the best childhood you can, and I want to stimulate your creativities and let you all learn and grow. With my experiments, I can't be the best to help each of you individually. So, I've found each of you a separate mentor, for after school for a few hours. Bubbles, you'll be doing different arts and crafts, and Blossom, you'll be able to practice different educational things. Buttercup, you'll be doing many different things like sports, and your mentor is even skilled in programming the training simulator."

I gape at Professor in utter excitement. "Really Professor? Will we really be able to do that stuff?" I look at Bubbles and she looks excited too. Buttercup always tries to hide her emotions, but I can see a glint of excitement in her pale green eyes. I can't believe that at five years-old, we're already getting this! Most children don't start any programs like this until high school, or even college.

"I'm entirely serious. This will be for a few hours every day, and I hope that you all get a lot out of this. I want you to feel like this is a person you can trust, and if you aren't enjoying yourself, or anything like that, I want you to tell me immediately. We'll see if we can't find you a new mentor. I'm not going to tell you who your mentors are right now. You probably wouldn't know them anyway, but I am going to tell you that they will meet you at school tomorrow. Don't leave early or fly off on your own. They're going to pick you up and walk you all the way to their houses." The Professor seems very excited about this now. At least he doesn't sound tired anymore.

We all finish dinner, and I help clear the table. My sisters don't help; they just walk right upstairs. I finally make my way upstairs and I hear them talking excitedly about the Professor's new program. I always wished that we could do something like this. I'm just really glad that we're all doing individual things. I can't wait until tomorrow.

Maybe tonight I'll wait until Bubbles and Buttercup are asleep and go get my diary. It's a good thing I don't sleep in the middle of the bed. I sit down next to them on our bed, and we all talk until Professor comes to tell us it's bedtime. I don't think I'll be able to stay up much longer. I'm really tired.

The girls and I wake up very early. We're all really excited about our mentors. I'm starting to get nervous. I'm sure that this is the best thing for us though. Hopefully Bubbles and Buttercup will have as much fun as I will. I hope their mentors are as nice as mine will be, too.

We leave for school, and sit in our desks before class has even started. The three of us watch the clock all day long. Ms. Keane calls on me a few times, and I know all the answers. It's a good thing I did my homework. Ms. Keane calls on Bubbles once, and I giggle because Bubbles answers in Squirrel. She actually speaks Squirrel, and sometimes she forgets that most people don't understand it. Ms. Keane doesn't call on Buttercup all day, because she doesn't think that Buttercup will know the answer.

Recess starts, and we fly outside. A dodge ball game gets started and Buttercup flies straight for that. Bubbles always loves to draw with sidewalk chalk during recess. I usually like to jump rope with some of the other girls at recess, but I don't feel like doing that today. I want to go inside, and tell Ms. Keane all about my mentor. I tell her about the Professor's idea, and what I hope we get to do. She tells me not to worry, because school is almost over. Before I know it, school is over. It's time to meet my mentor.


	3. After School Special

I see the three teenagers standing next to each other near our classroom's front door. I've never seen them waiting for any of the kids at school before. I know they are our mentors. They remind me of my sisters and I, except, one of them is a boy. My guess is that he's Buttercup's mentor. My sisters and I walk over to them, slowly.

With confidence, I say, "Hello, my name is Blossom, and they are Bubbles, and Buttercup." I point out each sister as I introduce them. The teenagers all smile.

One of the girls actually looks fairly similar to Bubbles. She has blonde hair, and soft green eyes. She looks incredibly loving, and she has a camera around her neck. She has a soft voice, "Bubbles, I'm Freesia, we're going to go to a park right now, and we'll do something special for our first day. Does that sound good to you?" 

Bubbles looks up at Freesia with excitement bubbling out of her skin. "I'd love to! What are we going to do today?" Her voice is high and obviously energized.

"Well, today we're going to the park, and we'll take some pictures. Then, tomorrow, we'll work on painting reactions and things of the pictures we took. It'll be really fun." Freesia seems like a free spirit, and obviously has hardly any cares in the whole world.

The teenager on the right isn't a girl. He's a boy. He turns to Buttercup, "Buttercup, I'm Brenden, we'll be going to my house today to work on some new martial arts skills." In response to that Buttercup jumps up in the air and yells. I can tell she's incredibly happy.

The last teenager is fairly tall, and has long, silky brown hair. She's wearing a striped, red sweater and jeans. She's also the last to speak, "Hello, Blossom. My name is Sheri, and I'll be taking you to my house when you're ready. I'm going to let our session today be a surprise." She sounds very smart. I can tell that I'll learn a lot from her.

She takes my hand and we walk off the playground together. I look up at her, and smile. On the way to her house we talk about what I did at school today. I tell her about how much I was looking forward to this all day long. She tells me that she was looking forward to it, too.

We arrive at her house. I look around and see how pretty her massive house is. It's very decorated, and I remind myself not to touch anything. I'm sure my sisters are being total monsters at the other houses - playing with everything they can get their hands on. She leads me upstairs to her room. I see that she has two desk areas set up. It's very organized. I smile at the sight of it.

She asks me to walk over and sit at my desk. I think to myself, "_This is my own special place. I don't have to worry about hiding anything from my sisters here. They'll never get to see it._" I smile with those thoughts. Sheri sees my smile and asks if I like it.

"Oh, Sheri! It's wonderful! It's everything I ever dreamed it would be! What are we going to do first?"

"Well, I thought I'd see what you know. I've made you up a few worksheets that have very broad questions on practically everything. It will show me your strengths, and weaknesses. This way we can go over them together, and we'll use today as a day to get to know each other."

She hands me a thick packet of worksheets. I actually get excited about them. I can tell she spent a long time making them. I start on them. She actually has pencils there for me. She sits down next to me, at her desk. "While you work on those, Blossom, I'm going to work on my homework. If you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask. Tell me right when you're done so that we can go over them together!"

I start looking at the packet and smile. These are so easy! As I flip through the pages, the problems get harder and harder. I'm doing pretty well. Some of these problems look like something a third grader could do. I've always been smarter than most kids my age. I finish the packet, and say, "Sheri, I'm finished." At that moment she practically jumps out of her chair and runs over to me, to go over the packet. I wonder how I did.


	4. Meeting Sheri

Sheri comes to sit next to me, so that we can go over the papers together. She brings her chair, and I scoot over a little for her. She has a very pretty, green pen, and I see that when she thinks, she chews the end of her pen a little. She starts going over the first page of problems, and I see that she jots down a few notes as she goes. I guess that the notes are there for her, because when I read them, they don't make any sense. They say things like "Wrk Anl - Nrr."

She turns to me and smiles, "Wow, Blossom, you're doing really well so far. I'm very impressed. Mr. Utonium and Ms. Keane said that you were incredibly smart for your age, and they really were right!"

I can't help but blush. I beam with happiness. I like Sheri. She finishes going over the problems, and I notice that she hasn't marked any of my problems wrong. Ms. Keane always marks problems I get wrong. So, I must not have gotten any wrong!

"I know that you're wondering why I haven't marked any wrong, Blossom. Well, all my life I've hated having problems marked wrong. It doesn't teach; it just gives you reason to be sad, or not feel good about yourself. So, we're going to do things a bit differently. I'm going to show you what good things you did, and then later on, in future lessons, we'll go over the ones you need more work on." She winks as she's talking, and I know that I'll be much more happy with this system, than with Ms. Keane's. I won't have to go home tonight and torture myself over all the problems I missed.

"Wow, that's a really great idea, Sheri." I say with enthusiasm. She begins to go over the packet with me. Some problems she totally skips over, because we're only going over a certain type of problems today. That way I honestly don't have any ideas which problems I got wrong.

I really like Sheri. I haven't learned anything yet, but I know it's important that she know where to start teaching, before she starts. I bet Bubbles and Buttercup did really exciting things today. I bet that Sheri is neater than Brenden and Freesia. I bet that Bubbles and Buttercup won't learn as much as I will this year.I can't wait to tell the Professor about everything I got to do today.

"Now, I've gotten you this little book, and every day for at least fifteen minutes, I'd like you to free-write. Basically, you can write about anything. Once in a while I might give you a topic, depending what we've been learning. It'll help you with your grammar, and we'll just keep track of that. I'm going to read it though, so if you want to put personal things, you can, but you don't have to. I'll reply to things you write, and go over your grammar a little."

I open to the first page, and she hands me a pretty, purple pen. I begin to write what comes into my head.

__

October 1, 2002

Today was very exciting. Buttercup, Bubbles, and I spent all day waiting to meet our mentors. They all seemed very nice. I haven't met Freesia, or Brenden yet, but if my sisters like them, then I'm sure I will. Sheri has been really nice to me. I really hope we get to start learning things tomorrow. I should ask her if she's in any clubs or anything. I wonder what she likes to do. I wonder what the girls and I are supposed to do if the mayor calls the hotline phone. We don't have any sort of hotline phones here, or a way to contact each other. I'll have to ask Professor that later. 

Sheri is sitting next to me again, and I see her look down at her watch. I set my pen down and she tells me it's just about time to go. We both stand up, and I reach for her hand. We walk down the stairs, and out her door. Once we make it outside, I look around. I wonder how far we are from home. We start walking down the street. I notice how close we are to home, and it takes less than five minutes to get home. I walk in and see that I'm the first to get home. I can't wait until I can hear all about what Bubbles and Buttercup did. I guess I'll have to wait until they get home.


	5. Finally Home

I'm home now! I'm so excited! Where are Bubbles and Buttercup? I'm going crazy! I just want to tell them all about my day! I buzz around the Professor excitedly as I ask him when the girls will be home. Before he even has a chance to respond, I begin to tell my day's adventures to him. I tell him all about Sheri and how great she is. I tell him about her special style of grading.

He seems really excited, too! He says, "That's great, Blossom! I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far! What do you think your sisters did today?" Thoughts fly through my head about what they could have done.

"The front door is opening!" I yell out in excitement. I rush to the door to see who it is. It's Bubbles and Freesia. Freesia walks over and stands next to where Sheri is still standing. I was so excited that I forgot that she was even there! Bubbles skips into the house, and right behind her walk in Brenden and Buttercup. The girls are both home now! I can't wait to find out what they did!

Brenden, Freesia, and Sheri are all standing near a corner of the room. My sisters and I fly over and hug the three of them. We are all chattering, "Thank you," and "That was so exciting!" The three teenagers smile, and all shake the Professor's hand. He thanks them also, and they know that it's time to leave. We wave from the windows as the three teenagers all walk in the same direction, back toward Sheri's house.

The girls and I start flying around in circles over Professor's head, all trying to tell our stories to him. He laughs in response, and tells us to go sit down at the kitchen table. He already had made dinner. He sets down the three plates of hamburgers, and the veggie burger plate for Bubbles. Buttercup yells, "I love hamburgers! Thanks Professor!"

"Alright girls, I know you all want to tell everyone what happened, so who wants to go first?" The Professor is smiling, excitedly.

We all start yelling, "I do! I do!" Professor looks like he's thinking. He tells us that he's going to have us go in a circle around the table, starting with Bubbles, then Buttercup. That means I have to go last! Well, at least I'll be able to hear what the girls did.

Bubbles starts, "Well, I was at school today, and Ms. Keane told me that she really liked the picture that I drew, and she even gave me a gold star. Then, Blossom kept saying that she wanted to meet our mentors, so I decided to draw a picture of what I thought they would look like, but I was wrong." While she's talking she picks up a picture of three squirrels, wearing dresses like ours, and we all giggle. 

"But, what did you do with your mentor, Bubbles?" Buttercup already sounds annoyed with Bubbles' babbling.

"Oh, right! Well, Freesia and I went to the park, and on our way there I showed her my drawings, and she was very impressed, Professor! When we got to the park she showed me her camera, and how to work it. Then she took pictures of stuff at the park, and showed me what she was doing. Then after she showed me how, she handed me the camera, and said that she would develop the film tonight and then we would get to paint a repersention of the pictures."

I of course know what she was trying to say, and ask, "Did you mean a representation, Bubbles?" She nods in response and we can tell she wants to find out what Buttercup had done today.

"Yeah, well, what I did was really fun! I got to go back to Brenden's house, and he has this huge backyard, and he had this whole obstacle course set up back there! It was so awesome! He timed me going through the obstacle course, and then he let me use his punching bag for a while, and he showed me some new techniques and stuff! It was so great, but I don't know what we're doing tomorrow. Brenden said it would be a surprise." Buttercup turns to me when she finishes and I start telling them all about my day.

I finish telling them about my journal book, and we all look around at each other, and Buttercup, Bubbles, and I all say, "Thank you so much Professor!"

He tells us all to go upstairs, and get ready for bed and my sisters obediently rush upstairs to their pajamas. I turn to him, and ask, "Professor, what happens if the hotline phone rings?" 

"Good question Blossom, but I'll tell the three of you that in the morning, okay?" The Professor looks at me, and I can tell that it's time for bed. Slowly, I float up the stairs, thinking about my happy day.


	6. The Sun Is Shining

I feel the warm sun radiating onto my face and I stretch as I wake up. I wake up, and float out of bed to do my usual morning ritual. My sisters are still sleeping. I float downstairs, and find Professor bustling around in the kitchen, as usual. I sit down at the table carefully; I don't want to get any wrinkles in my nice, clean dress.

After a while of watching Professor cook us breakfast, I see my sisters float sleepily down the stairs. They sit down at the table next to me, and rub the sleep out of their eyes. Professor hears them and turns around. He looks very tired.

"Girls, I stayed up most of the night working on a special project. I need you to wear these all the time now while you're not at home. It's very important. When you get to school, you'll notice that the hotline phone isn't there." He stops talking for a moment, and he picks three boxes up off the counter - one pink, one blue, and one green. He places one in front of each of us. "Now, I want you to open those, and I'll explain them to you."

We open the boxes, and I look in mine to see a pale pink watch. I've never had a watch before. It'll be nice to know what time it is. I peak in the other girls' boxes and see that they also got watches.

"These aren't just ordinary watches. You are all connected now. If you ever need to get a hold of each other, these work almost like a walkie talkie. I have a black one, which is also connected to the three of you. If the mayor needs to call you girls, the call will go immediately through to Blossom. She'll then send the message to Bubbles and Buttercup and you can all meet at the scene. I've already told Ms. Keane about the watches, so you don't need to worry about that. If you need to let Ms. Keane know anything, be sure to get the message to me, and I can get the message to her." He paces slowly back and forth while he explains.

He spends a few moments demonstrating how the watches work. We also find out that if our mentors need to contact us, they can do that through the watches also. I decide to wear mine all the time, even when I'm at home. It's the responsible thing to do. I'm a superhero; I need to be responsible. 

I gaze down at the pretty, pink watch. The digital read out tells me that, strangely enough, we are earlier than usual. I think we should leave for school early, to show all the kids our watches! They'll probably all want one, too. Too bad they aren't superheroes.

I ask Professor if we can leave for school early, since it's such a beautiful sunny day. He says that would be a wonderful idea. We get all ready and leave about twenty minutes earlier than usual.

We walk outside and the sun is shining fiercely on us. We decide to take a detour that we don't usually take. We start walking to Townsville Park because we have an extra twenty minutes today! Maybe we could play in Mojo Jojo's moat for a little bit!

I take my first step onto the cool grass, and I stop, sit down and take off my shoes and socks. I walk around on the grass carrying my shoes, with my socks inside them. The grass is squishy between my toes. Bubbles copies me, but Buttercup just laughs at us.

Buttercup takes off at a run toward Mojo Jojo's and we fly off after her. She kicks off her shoes once she gets to the moat, and pulls off her socks. We catch up to her just as she leaps into the cold water. Bubbles and I follow her example and throw ourselves carelessly in the water.

We splash each other, and giggle. It's always so much fun to play in a cold water moat on really hot days like these. I feel the sun shine down on me as I float on my back in the water. A butterfly skitters slowly through the air, and lands on a leaf next to the moat. I think it's thirsty. I bet it's hot too. I point out the butterfly to Bubbles and she gets very excited, and names it Buttons. She tells it that it can be an honorary Powerpuff Girl. I giggle, and decide to scope out our surroundings. It's always good to know what's going on around you.


	7. The Sun Has Left Me

The warm sun is already beating down on us, and it's not even eight o'clock yet. I check the time on my watch and realize we still have tons of time before school will start. I scan the park quickly; I'm just making sure that we're not in any immediate danger. Nothing seems to be any different than any other day. There aren't too many children in the park, but it's a school day, so that's to be expected. It's early in the morning, so there are only people taking their dogs for walks and things. I know that that's how the world works on weekdays. 

Since I'm convinced that everything is all right, I can feel free to relax, and I dive straight down to the bottom of the moat. The moat is fairly deep, but since I'm a superhero, it's easy. Buttercup, obviously jealous, dives down right behind me, and I can tell she wants to race me around the moat. We take off, underwater, and I'm in the lead for most of the time. Buttercup pulls ahead at the halfway point, but I'm not getting tired at all. I continue swimming, and without warning I have to dive underwater to avoid Bubbles, who's treading water at the surface. I look back slightly, to see why she chose there to stop, and see that her mouth is open, and she's looking up at Mojo Jojo's observatory.

By now Buttercup has already reached victory. I sigh. I hate losing. Then I realize why Bubbles is staring. Mojo Jojo is standing at the top of the stairs, without his cape and without his boots. I'm so used to his usual dress, that he looks unfinished, and kind of silly. It takes me a moment to realize that he's yelling down to us.

"You rotten, little Powerpuff Girls! That is to say that you are not liked by all. You are merely young children, whom I do not like! I do not like you, and I do not like you playing in my moat. I am the owner of the moat; therefore I should be the only one to play in my moat, without an invitation. You are not the owners of the moat, so you should, please, be getting out of my moat now. Shouldn't you children be at school? You are under the age of eighteen, and it is a weekday. You need to be in classrooms learning." Mojo Jojo is going off on another rant. Sometimes, I wish he would just be quiet.

Buttercup must be annoyed by him too, "Hey, Monkey Boy! Don't make us come up there!" Mojo must not have cared though, because he continued on with his ranting. Now he's talking about one of his stupid plans to defeat us. I sigh, again.

Buttercup starts flying up toward him. Of course, Bubbles and I follow. He is still yelling at us. We fly around his head, bobbing up and down, happily chanting and cheering. "Mojo Jojo can't tell us no-no. He doesn't know-know that he is a do-do!" We all start giggling, as Mojo attempts to chase us all. He grabs at Bubbles' hand, and Buttercup and I move toward him. This must have scared him, because he darts forward.

His toes just grab onto the edge, and we all grab for his hands. We miss him by a tiny bit of a second. I see everything in slow motion: the expression on Bubbles' face changing to horrified, Mojo Jojo hurtling to the earth, Buttercup flying down (seconds too late) to rescue him, and I can't believe it. Bubbles and I have both darted down to wear Mojo Jojo has landed. I see tears welling up in Bubbles' big, crystal blue eyes.

Buttercup's lip is quivering. I don't want to see Buttercup cry. That will be the worst day of our lives. I wipe my cheek and realize that I'm crying already. That's when Buttercup starts sobbing. The three of us can't help but cry. We know that Mojo Jojo isn't okay. Okay bodies don't rest like that. I try to compose myself. I reach down to Mojo Jojo's neck, and try to remember what the fireman told us about first-aid. I sniff, and choke back more tears, before I can stutter, "H-he-he's... dead."

My head is spinning. Blue, green, blue, green, monkey, grass, water, blue, green, all the colors that I see - they're blinding. I see pink, as I call the Professor on my watch. The flashing red, white, blue, red, white, blue of the ambulance, the whee-ooh of the siren, the ringing in my ears, the monkey's final screams all ring through my head. I can think of nothing, but the life I've just taken for my own pleasure and fun.


	8. Picture Perfect

I'm speechless. I know that what happened wasn't our fault. Bubbles is so upset. I want to comfort Bubbles, but I can't speak. She needs help from the Professor. Buttercup is just off in her own world. I think she's punching her punching bag.

I want to cry, but I can't. I'm sitting at the kitchen table, watching Bubbles and the Professor. It's not fair. Bubbles always gets so much attention, because she's the baby. I'm the leader, so I have to be strong. I don't want to be strong. I want to be Bubbles. She always gets more attention than I do.

Bubbles and Professor are sitting on the floor of the living room. He's singing to her. I don't really recognize the tune, but Bubbles must be enjoying it. I notice that Bubbles has stopped crying. She's just sniffling now. Buttercup would be making fun of her, but Buttercup isn't here. Professor doesn't seem to be worried about anyone but Bubbles. He always did like her best.

I see Bubbles stand up. She holds out her hand, and helps Professor up. They both vanished up the stairs, and then came back down moments later. Bubbles sat down across from me at the table, with a box of crayons and some white paper. I need to escape. Her tear-stained, pink face is depressing.

I float slowly up the stairs. I get my journal from its secret hiding place. I need to write.

__

The pain is making me sad.

Everyone feels so bad.

I want to run away.

This is such a bad day.

Professor doesn't care,

Bubbles needs him there,

But what about me?

Why can't he talk to me?

I am all alone.

I don't feel at home.

I don't know why I wrote a poem. I just wrote the feelings that I feel. I'm so sad. I can't tell Professor that I'm sad. He'll worry about me. He's got enough to worry about. I don't want to upset him. I wish there were something I can do.

Buttercup walks into the room. "What are you looking at, Red? It's not like this was my fault. You always blame everything on me!" Without even waiting for a reply, she stalked, angrily, back out of the room. She always was easily annoyed. I am not mad at her though, because she didn't mean anything by it. She's just sad, and anger is how she takes care of that.

After putting away my journal, I drift back downstairs. I sit back in my chair, and look at what Bubbles is still drawing. I see that she's drawn a flower picture. I pull it closer to me, and inspect it. It must be a rose. The stem is green, and it has fat, brown spines, and two fat leaves coming off of it. There are only four petals though with no center of the flower; all of the petals just kind of meet in the middle. The colors she chose were very harsh, compared to her other drawings.

She asks me if I like the flower. I smile at her, and she explains, "I drew the flower all by itself, because it's my flower for Mojo. Poor monkey. He should have shared, and maybe he'd be okay today. Professor always tells me to share, no matter what. Mojo's mommy should have told him that, too. She didn't though, which is sad. Maybe she never knew to share. How come Mojo never told us about his mommy, Blossom? Does he not have a mommy? We don't have a mommy and we're fine. Most kids have mommies, though. Huh, Blossom?"

I shrug. How am I supposed to know how Mojo would be, if he had a mom? I just know that Bubbles is right: we don't have a mommy. If we did, maybe she would take care of me. She wouldn't let me be all by myself. She would hold me like Professor holds Bubbles.

Professor comes into the kitchen and asks us, "How are you girls doing?" He pauses for just a moment, and then continues, "Oh, I mean... I shouldn't have asked that. I know. I mean... Well... just..."

Bubbles responds, "Don't worry, Professor! We're fine." She almost sounds cheery. She was sad, no more than a half-hour ago. What is wrong with her? How can she not be caring? She is smiling now. I can't believe this.

Professor continues stumbling over his words, "Okay, well, good. I mean... I know you all are sorry. Not that it's your fault at all I mean. But, do you girls know about sympathy? I mean, of course you don't. You're five years old..." Muttering, he smiles feebly, and walks out of the room.

How can I be the only one who cares? I know it wasn't my fault. I look up to see Bubbles muttering under her breath while she's coloring. I wonder what's going on with her. I wonder what's going on with Buttercup.


	9. A New Friend

The Professor walks in, and tells us, "Girls, I have important news to tell you. I've called your mentors, and they want to come over and talk to you, if that's okay. Or, is it too early for that? Do you girls just need to take a day off entirely?" Without waiting for a response, Professor answers his own question, "Right. What was I thinking? Today is way too early. I'll tell them not yet, but soon." 

Bubbles moves to the chair next to me, and scoots it over until we're practically touching. Then she stands up, and retrieves her crayons and papers. She shows me a picture of Mojo Jojo. I inspect it closely. Mojo is standing in the picture, but he's smiling. Sometimes I wonder about Bubbles. She begins to interpret her picture, "This is a picture, that I drew, of Mojo Jojo. Mojo is very happy. I like Mojo. He's my friend." I can't help but think to myself about how weird she is.

She continues explaining, "He's standing next to the tree." I look at the picture again, and don't see a tree. I see a little bush. It must be a baby tree. "I think Mojo is a very nice monkey. Did you see him today Blossom?"

"Ugh! Shut up about that stupid monkey already!" I hadn't even noticed Buttercup had entered the room, but her annoyed tone now made it very obvious that she had. Her knuckles look a little pink; she must have been punching her punching bag without her gloves again. She only does that when she's really angry.

She turns to face me, and I see a tiny teardrop slide toward her nose. She quickly turns away from me; she must have realized she was crying. I see her pretend to itch her nose. I've never seen Buttercup cry before. It's kind of scary. If Buttercup is crying, why aren't I crying now? Am I doing something wrong?

The Professor comes back into the kitchen and reports, "I've called the mentors, and they understand. We'll try for later on in the week. Just let me know when you girls are ready to go back to talk to them. Oh, Buttercup, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine! Gosh, can't everyone just get off my back already?" She sounds irritated. I look at her and I think I see another tear on her cheek. Buttercup storms out of the room, muttering something about being the only one who cared.

The Professor sighs and walks out of the room. I decide to follow him. I leave the room and slowly float up the stairs. Everyone is so sad. I decide to take a nap, and try to relax. I put on some pajamas, and climb into bed. I feel the coldness of my pillowcase, and breathe out deeply; then I fall asleep.

My eyes slowly open and I look around. What's going on? I realize the blanket is over my head and my pillow is down by my feet. I yawn, and stretch before I climb out of bed. I smell pancakes. Bubbles must have wanted pancakes. I wander back into the kitchen, and sit down in my chair next to Bubbles. Buttercup is sitting at the table now, also. I wonder how long she's been in here with Bubbles.

I don't see any pancakes. I don't smell them anymore either. I must have imagined it earlier. The Professor sits down across the table from us. I see him open his mouth to speak, "Girls, I have something important to talk to you about. I can tell you're sad. After all, I'm sad too. I bet you two have a lot to talk about. I want you guys to feel comfortable getting out all your feelings. I've scheduled all three of you a little time with a new friend, and I want you to feel comfortable talking with her."

Bubbles jumped in, "What's her name? Is she nice? Is she pretty? What does she do for a living? I bet she's a firefighter! Where did you meet her? Does she have any daughters?" The questions practically exploded from her mouth.

"Well, her name is Dr. Venga, and she's a very nice woman. She's not a firefighter, Bubbles; she's a doctor. I met her at a science expo once, but I don't know if she has any daughters, and I thought she was pretty when I met her." The Professor winks at Bubbles as he says the last sentence.

"So, you've only met this woman one time, but you still say she's a very nice woman? I don't buy that!" Buttercup snarls.

"Well, Buttercup," The Professor answers, "I met her once in person, and we still chat on the Internet very often. I mentioned the death of Mojo Jojo and she thought that you girls would need a female to relate to. I can't really give you any mothering, you know" The Professor always knows the best ways to answer us.

Bubbles starts whimpering, "I don't want to go alone. I want to go with Blossom." She almost starts crying.

"Well, I'm sure that will be all right for the first few times you all talk." Bubbles smiles at Professor's answer. "Now, girls, I need you all to be ready by 2:00. That's when we need to leave for Blossom and Bubbles' first appointment."


	10. Meeting Doctor Venga

"Girls! We're leaving in five minutes!" Professor's voice booms throughout the house. Bubbles and I are sitting upstairs in our bedroom. She's coloring; I'm just sitting and watching her. She stands up, and we both make our way downstairs. Buttercup is already sitting on our blue couch, and we sit down next to her. The Professor walks in and sees that we're all ready to go. "Let's get going then, girls."

We all plod along behind him to the car. I'm kind of scared to meet t his new woman. I mean, what if she's mean to us. No, Professor said she was nice. He wouldn't lie to us. At least I get to go with Bubbles. Buttercup has to go alone. Maybe I'll have to go alone, too at some point. I don't know.

We begin driving, and I realize we're heading toward the mayor's office. We're a little past that, in a place I'm not really familiar with. There are small office buildings around here, and I guess we're not going to Dr. Venga's house, because there aren't any houses here. She must be working today. It's very nice that she would give up her work time to talk to us. The Professor pulls our car into a space, and tells us that we're all going to go inside together.

Bubbles and I climb out of the backseat, and Buttercup climbs out of the front, passenger seat. Professor is already waiting for us, outside the car. I push down the door lock button on my door, and realize Professor has already locked all the doors. He always thinks ahead.

We walk into the small waiting room, and there's no one else in the room. On the other side of the counter is a receptionist, and Professor asks us to sit down and wait. He walks up to the receptionist, and they talk to each other, but I can't hear what they're saying. Professor sits down next to me. The receptionist then leaves for somewhere back beyond the counter.

I look over at Buttercup. She looks really nervous. She's biting her lower lip. I should tell her that isn't good for her, but Professor might get mad at me, so I won't. I look at her hand. The nails look uneven and weird. Bubbles is looking excited. She always likes meeting new people.

The door opens, and there is a new woman standing there. Professor stands up and walks over to her, "Catherine, how are you doing today?" He shakes her hand. I don't know why he used both hands to shake her hand, though. Sometimes, the Professor is really weird. "These are my girls: Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup." We each wave as he introduces us.

"Okay, nice to meet you ladies," Dr. Venga has a very pretty smile when she speaks. "So, I'll be talking to Bubbles and Blossom first?"

"Yes! I'm Bubbles, and I didn't want to have to be alone, so I thought Blossom could come with me. Blossom's really nice, and she always stands up for me and Buttercup."

"I don't need nobody to stand up for me, you dork!" Buttercup has always been like this to Bubbles. 

I see her lower chin start to quiver, so I reach over and give Bubbles a hug. Trying her hardest to smile again, she tells me, "Thank you, Blossom." Then she starts talking in Squirrel again. I see Dr. Venga look at Professor, and she looks confused.

"Are you a squirrel, Bubbles?" Dr. Venga asked.

"No, silly! I'm a Powerpuff Girl!" Bubbles replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, okay then. Well, if you two are ready, then we can talk now. Why don't you follow me into my office?" Dr. Venga's very sweet. We follow her down a short hallway, and enter a really pretty room with all sorts of different couches, and chairs. She invites Bubbles and I to sit down wherever we want, and we both take a spot on the long couch. She pulls a chair over from across the room.

I wonder what we're going to talk about. Maybe she'll ask about our mentors. I hope not, though. I don't really want to talk to her. I don't want to tell her anything. No one else has cared to listen to me talk. Why should she? She doesn't even know me.


End file.
